We are living through a massive redefinition of human sexuality. Proposed by militant “gays” and their supporters, it generally refuses calm, intelligent discussion. Its success often depends on intimidation that maligns opponents as “haters,” “homophobes” and “bigots.” Like the proponents of man-made global warming, about which Al Gore says, “the science is settled” (in spite of unsettling “inconvenient truths” to the contrary), so the moral case on homosexuality has been decided in advance-“one should be free to love whomever one wishes.” Sexual diversity is assumed to constitute the glorious future for human liberation-whether in the media or in the halls of education. Exclusive heterosexuality is dismissed as the imposition of an oppressive past, unworthy of public discussion.

The power of this approach is stunning. Without providing any peer-reviewed scientific evidence that therapy for clients with unwanted homosexual feelings is harmful, the UK government recently pressured the Association of Christian Counselors (ACC) into expelling a long-serving Christian counselor for offering therapeutic support to someone with unwanted same-sex attraction.

I went to Evangelical churches fifty-two Sundays a year for the better part of 19 years….my evangelical church made exactly one argument about SSM… ‘Being “gay” is icky.’ The moment a “gay” person ceases to disgust you, you have nothing left. It failed to train the young people…providing them no doctrinal depth by keeping them in a bubble of emotion, dependent on their never engaging with the outside world on anything but warlike terms.

Or consider the cult-like Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS which appears in public, and even at funerals, with signs reading “God Hates Fags,” and “Thank God for 9/11.” This may be the only place where the accusation of hate speech is truly appropriate, and where, as an argument, their approach is woefully inappropriate.

These cases exhibit the lack of clear, convincing reasoning about sexuality-reasoning that respects the interlocutor as a person made in God’s image, while grounding the discussion in sound biblical theology. Actually, a valid argument is not that complicated, but it must step back to ultimate issues, as does British theologian Colin Gunton (1941-2003):

There are, probably, ultimately only two possible answers to the question of origins: [either] that the universe is the result of creation by a free personal agency, or that in some way it creates itself.

The two possible answers are faith statements, since none of us were there at the time. They thus define two, and only two, mutually exclusive forms of religious commitment, as the apostle Paul wrote long ago:

…they exchanged the truth about God for [the] lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen (Rom 1:25).

For simplicity I call these two options Oneism or Twoism.

Oneism:

The self-creating world is self-explanatory, and all is made up of the same stuff, whether matter, spirit or a mixture. Thus, all distinctions are in principle eliminated. This is what can be called homocosmology, a worldview based on sameness.

Twoism:

There are two kinds of existence-the uncreated Creator, and everything else, which is created. Twoism celebrates both God’s otherness in relation to the world and also explains the distinctions he placed in the creation to celebrate this Twoist reality. This is a heterocosmology, a world based on otherness and difference.These two understandings of the world give rise to two views of sexuality. (For a deeper discussion, see my book God of Sex.

Similarly, the Twoist historic biblical faith celebrates the representative ideological importance of heterosexuality. In the beginning, reflecting God’s Trinitarian image of difference in unity, human beings were made male and female (Gen 1:27-8), and that structure mirrored the Twoist “mystery” of Christ’s redeeming love for his bride, the church (Eph 5:32).

There is no appeal to “icky,” no incitement to hate in this argument. Biblical cosmology brings light to the discussion and, in God’s grace, prepares hearts for conversion and life-changing behavior. As the Apostle Paul said,

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

Dr. Peter Jones is Director of truthXchange, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament, as well as Scholar in Residence, at Westminster Seminary California. He has written The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back (1992), Spirit Wars (1997), Gospel Truth/Pagan Lies (1999), Capturing the Pagan Mind (2003), Cracking DaVinci’s Code (2004, co-author, James Garlow), Stolen Identity (2006) and The God of Sex (2006). Peter Jones is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and is married to Rebecca Clowney Jones. They have seven children and twelve grandchildren. For recreation, Dr. Jones enjoys playing jazz piano and golf.

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